City as Border Zone

In 2015, architects Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller traveled around the American Southwest studying militarized urban spaces for their upcoming book. While en route to a New Mexico ghost town that now serves as a security training compound (complete with mock Afghan village), they stopped in El Paso—and found themselves fascinated by the city’s binational culture. They moved to the city later that year. Sarah Wesseler, The Architectural League’s digital editor, spoke with them about El Paso and its implications for their work.